Friday, June 29, 2007

Want to know what IN and what's OUT?Want to join the INNEST most coolest news blog community, ever? Run by ESME SQUALORthe City's Sixth Most Important Financial Advisor?Then join The In Weekly.You can post what you think is IN, or what you think is most definitely OUT. And expect that each week you will see a post by Esme: girlfriend of evil genious, wonderfully talented actor, and overall cool Count Olaf.There will be fan art, recipes, custom buttons, Baudelaire orphans....OOPS! I meant....and lots of other IN things too.How to join?e-mail Esme:theinweekly@hotmail.comJust say something like "I wanna joinTIW", so she'll know how to weed out the good from the spam.Then I'll add your e-mail to the list of "invites" and you'll be sent with an invitation to join the blog within seconds.Oh yeah--and spread the word! There are only three members at the moment!-Sookie

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Okay everybody--guess what?I might be going to Israel and Jordan this October!!!!!!!!!!YAHOO!!!!!!!!I'm so excited!!!Remember when I said that I might go to France? Well, that fell through mysteriously. So I couldn't go this summer.But five days ago I was invited by a group of Eschotologists (Christians who study the end times and Revelations) to go on their next excursion to Israel.It's an eight day tour of the whole country!I'd literally get to see everything: Jerusalem, the Mediterranian, the Dead Sea, the Jordan River, Caeseria, Galilee, Nazarith, Petra.....They're even going to be having a little "class" in the valley of Armageddon, where the Battle is going to take place.I really, really, REALLY want to go!!!!!!The only problems: passports (with the Imagration thing), and my school.Normally missing eight days of school would be a sinch--but this is my Senior Year and because my old school messed around with my credits I have to take an extra class outside of school-which means literally I'm taking nine courses this year, plus applying to colleges and such.....But still: it would be so cool!One thing's for sure--if I go to Israel, I'll buy a digital camera, take pictures, and post them up here on this blog.From what I've heard--Israel has internet cafes all over, so that should be helpful.Oh, and does anyone know any Israeli phrases besides "Shalom", because that's all I know right now.More later,Sookie

Thursday, June 21, 2007

1. Butterbeer or pumpkin juice?pumpkin juice--because I've always wanted to try it.2. What House would you most likely (or want to) be in in Hogwarts?Gryffindor

3. If you were an animagus, what animal would you turn into?lioness--I've always had a thing for lions, ever since I was little when I'd rent national geographic videos solely on lions, and every toy I owned had to be connected with lions some way. And this was somewhat before THE LION KING came out.

4. What character do you empathize with, or resemble best?Luna, "Looney", Lovegood. I don't really look like her description-but I'm a lot like her. I'm a bit of a freak/geek but then, I'm willing to believe in things that most people do not.

5. What position do you play at Quidditch?Seeker is the only thing that sounds fun.6. Which teacher is your favorite?Professor McGonnigall (I'm sure that's spelled horribly), because she rocks my socks, especially in Harry Potter 5 (my favorite chapter in the whole book is "Career Advice" where that horrible teacher--Professor Umbridge--tells her that Harry has no chance of becoming an Auror and she ignores her and tells Harry something like, "Even if I have to tutor you every single night, I'll make sure you're an auor if it's the last thing I do!")7. Any Harry Potter 7 predictions?We'll see Harry, Ron, Hermione, and maybe even the Weasly twins at the end of the book-and we'll see what they've become, who they've married....etc.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

This is just a quick post to answer some questions and more.Erin: I thought the German Uglies covers were awesome-especially the last (the Pretties one freaks me out a little). But I still love the American covers. Just cause...I can't really explain it. But the German covers are great, too.Also-about the Lizard King, you can see the second part of Chapter One just underneath part one (follow the yellow brick LINK).Hope you enjoy!(The second part is a little bit creepier-and you get to meet the amazing, stunning, and otherwise cowardly Milford-I'm still debating on whether to change his name to Milton or not-what do you think?)-Sookie

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Okay, I've been writing this story for a total of, like, three hours, but I thought that I'd make a place for it anyway-just in case I decide I REALLY like the story (so far titled THE LIZARD KING), I might want to have a few samples of it up so that I can get others' opinion.So-if you've got the time-I'e really appreciated it if you went HERE to check it out (I've only got one short portion of chapter one on there). Oh, and just to say-it's getting a lot more interesting as I write it-so if this first part of chapter 1 is not that interesting-that the whole story is not like that. I hope you enjoy it, though!

Monday, June 11, 2007

The Darkangel by Meredith Anne PeirceThe Darkangel, a winged creature that is reeking havoc in its world, is on the lookout for another wife. His thirteenth, in fact. And Aeriel, a lowly village servant girl, is there to witness the kidnapping.Her mistress is taken abruptly by the Darkangel, as is Aeriel who means to kill the Darkangel (and falls under his spell instead).The Darkangel takes Aeriel to his castle, where she is to serve the thirteen souless wraiths (wives), who insist that Aeriel MUST kill the Darkangel when he takes his fourteenth and final wife, takes her soul, and present his vials of the souls to the water witch-to be made a full icarus ( a creature that sucks out souls). However, Aeriel finds that she loves the Darkangel-because he is beautiful....and quests to save the small good in his soul.

I found the Darkangel to be a very interesting book. Great descriptions and believable characters. Some of the creatures are reminiscent of Narnia and Harry Potter. All in all: I give it four thumbs up!Visit the Author's Website

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Saturday, June 9, 2007

So I took the ACT this morning.Uh.....that sounds way too casual.So I took this test that was kinda-sorta-like the SAT just much different (and much shorter!) that I didn't even know I was taking until last night (freak accident...or not? Dun dun dun......)Anyway-don't sweat it if you have an ACT test coming up, cause have I got a treat for you!

T H E A C T

Okay, so make sure you get plenty of sleep, food, and relaxation (as before with the SAT) Also, be sure to check your admission ticket beforehand and make sure they got your name and test center right....etc. The ACT DOES take standbys, but only if there's room. Also-make sure you have a graphing calculator. I can't say anything too specific, but.....you'll need it. Trust me. (Although they say you don't need a calculator to solve the math problems-ya do, and a graphing calculator helps a lot-mine was stolen the week before, so I was sorely missing it this morning). Anyway-about the ACT. It was a lot shorter than the SAT (SAT: 7:00am-1:50pm ACT: 8:oo am-12:oo noon). And the breaks were longer (10 minutes each). The ACT has pretty much the same layout of the SAT, and some similar questions as well. But I thought I did better on the ACT, because it tests over what you've learned in high school, not just your innate knowledge (such as the SAT strives to do). Plus the ACT has a science section (unlike the SAT which is only math and english, math and english, math, english, math, english, math, english......like a broken record with an essay thrown in). The Science section is really easy-if you can interpret charts pretty well (I didn't actually know anything the science section was testing over, but I could figure out the charts), because that's all that's to it. All in all, I thought the ACT was a much more relaxed experience. Whereas the SAT was terrible.

Oh, speaking of the SAT-I recieved my scores. 1480!!!!!! Okay okay, I know it's not that grand of score (570-reading,400-math,510-writing/grammar, and an 8 on the essay), but it's actually really good news.

Though it isn't what I'd hoped for, when I recieved my score in the mail today-it said that most people with my exact scoring had an 80-something percent chance of scoring much higher on the second time aroud.

Plus, even if I do horribly on the second one.... the college will look at the highest score and see that clearly my strengths are in English and writing (which will give me more of a personality to the admissions office). Plus I'm really please at the outcome of the essay. I think that the highest score you can get is a 1o. So an 8 is pretty good. I'm really surprised, though-because I thought my essay was horrid after I wrote.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

1. Do you outline?Since I'm just a kid in high school, trying to find the best writing method for me-I've tried outlining. It just ain't my style.2. Do you write straight through a book, or do you sometimes tackle the scenes out of order?It depends, sometimes I write my stories out of order because my brain doesn't allow me to put the scenes and information in a certain order until I reach a point. And sometimes-I just write straight on through.3. Do you prefer writing with a pen or using a computer?I used to prefer pen. Now I prefer computer. But my computer is broken and highly unpredictable, so now I'm writing in pen again.4. Do you prefer writing in first person or third?Both! I'm a strange writer-sometimes the story will have one voice (first or third) and sometimes I've written stories where it changes. But mainly I'd have to say first.5. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, do you create a playlist, listen randomly, or pick a single song that fits the book?I've tried and tried to write with a playlist. I can pick songs immediately once I have some idea of the plot. Sadly, though, I can't write with music on. So I organize a playlist on my iPod for the story and listen to it while I'm running or driving-just because I can't write with music doesn't mean it doesn't inspire me to write!6. How do you come up with the perfect names for your characters?Naming is honestly the hardest part I have with characters. I usually go to babynames.com as a resource, or if there's some family/antiquity names involved I check the American or British cencus records to see what names were more popular when. I've seen some really weird names ;-)7. When you're writing, do you ever imagine your book as a television show or movie?Yes!! As a movie-always. I always have.8. Have you ever had a character insist on doing something you really didn't want him/her to do?All the time!!!9. Do you know how a book is going to end when you start it?No, never-I mean, I can guess but I usually guess wrong.10. Where do you write?In my room or the car's room (where the computer is)11. What do you do when you get writer's block?I pace around the house, eat, or if it's a really bad case-watch a movie, go to the bookestore, or take a walk12. What size increments do you write in (either in terms of wordcount, or as a percentage of the book as a whole)?Sometimes I write two words and sometimes I write two-thousand, I just have to make sure that I get my fifteen minutes in per night.13. How many different drafts did you write for your last project?My last finished project was a girly novel called "Blue", it had only one draft, sadly, that I've never picked back up.14. Have you ever changed a character's name midway through a draft?No, once I choose a name-it's a done deal. The process in finding one, however, can take up to a week's worth of research. I make sure all my characters (at least the main ones) are correctly named.15. Do you let anyone read your book while you're working on it, or do you wait until you've completed a draft before letting someone else see it?With "Blue" I let someone read the first 800 words, got encouragement, sent a larger portion of chapter to another friend, was encouraged.....eventually I started posting its chapters on a blog where all my friends could read. I was searching for a good blogging host: that's how I found blogger ;-)16. What do you do to celebrate when you finish a draft?I was on the next to last chapter of Blue when I decided to just chuck it all....school was starting, and my mind was racing with other projects. So I've never really had that feeling....17. One project at a time, or multiple projects at once?ONE AT A TIME!!!!! Slow and steady wins the race......18. Do your books grow or shrink in revision?grow enourmously19. Do you have any writing or critique partners?I had some reoccuring readers on a writing community.....and my friends....but that was it.20. Do you prefer drafting or revising?Drafting.....I've only done revising on short stories and poems....and it's not fun!

Friday, June 1, 2007

Danced the tarantella with a fire-breathing dragon? Shimmied with the singing snake of Snogdon? Went for a vacation to another dimension?

We all know the most dreaded writing assignment in elementary school: write a page about what you did over the summer. I always wrote the minimal amount that I could get away with, and was extremely chagrined when we had to read these out loud.Who really cares if we went to Louisianna and got pinched by our second cousins all day? Who honestly was listening to "Well....I-I built a fort and then I-I went fishing with my dad and I-yeah that's pretty much it."I know I wasn't, I was daydreaming about all the things I WISHED I'd done during summer break. Not normal things like ride a bycicle to Suzie Lou's every wednesday or drive to Dallas to visit those pinching-crabs of cousins. No, I mean COOL things, like Fantastic things that only happen in books and movies.Instead of bycicling I'd fly to Suzie Lou's-then we could fly together and surprise attack my second cousins before they pinched us to death.....We could turn them into big giant lobsters-then throw them out to sea in a boat made entirely out of whip cream in an ocean full of lime coke and giant ice cubes that never melt. Then we'd convert the school to a big giant jacuzzi and never have to do homework again!

So, with the fact that summer has just begun in mind, I've made my own meme about summer things.Here it is:

This summer, would you rather.......1. fly on a broomstick or move things with your mind?

2. Grow wings or develop an ability to see the future?

3. Go to Mars or go to Faeryland?

4. Go looking for trolls or take a ride on a dragon?

5. Stake out a vampire coven or eat steak with one?

6. Attend a funeral with a Banshee or visit Roswell, NM?

7. Be magically transported to a world where everything is black and white or be trapped in the Beast's castle?

8. Find out your teacher is actually an alien or find out your parents are wizards and witches?

9. Drink a mochalatte with Yoda or have a glass of water with The Lady of the Lake?

About Me

My favorite thing in the world is to read a book. I also enjoy writing, graphic design, and all media and forms of art. I'm also addicted to starbucks coffee (well, who isn't) and have my heart set on traveling the world.